Invisible Wounds - Softcover

Beutin, Dustin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1785350846 ISBN 13: 9781785350849

Verlag: ROUNDFIRE BOOKS, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

In May, 2010, Special Agent Morgan Huntley learns that a close colleague has been abducted while investigating the shocking murders of two soldiers within a NATO command facility in Kabul, Afghanistan. Within days, it becomes clear that his friend's investigation had uncovered a disturbing rumor: a group of retired U.S. Army personnel may have returned to Afghanistan to build a drug cartel, posing as defense contractors and utilizing the Army's own logistics network. With the clock ticking on both the case and his friend’s life, Morgan accepts an offer to volunteer for an undercover mission to Afghanistan, posing as a civilian contractor. Upon arrival, however, Morgan learns that the kidnapping is but one small piece of a wider and more dangerous puzzle. Worse, Morgan's civilian cover story is immediately endangered when a close friend of his ex-wife becomes a key asset in his investigation. Invisible Wounds is a riveting thriller that navigates a world of hidden agendas, brazen deceit, and costly choices. Simultaneously gripping and fast-paced it is also a meaningful consideration of the generational costs of a decade of global conflict.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Dustin Beutin is a native of Chicago and a fan of murky conspiracy theories. Among a series of critical and scholarly attention for his portfolio of full-length screenplays, Dustin has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures’ Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting for his works Bataan and Washington Fog. Intrigued by the freedom of the fiction-novel format, Invisible Wounds is Dustin’s first novel.

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Invisible Wounds

By Dustin Beutin

John Hunt Publishing Ltd.

Copyright © 2014 Dustin Beutin
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-78535-084-9

Contents

Invisible Wounds, 
From the Author, 
About the Author, 
Glossary of Terms, 

CHAPTER 1

Kabul, Afghanistan
May, 2010

Special Agent Jason Milner arrived at the small, subterranean bar known as The Brydon a little before 10:00 p.m. local time. As one of the rare businesses in Kabul with a genuine, government-issued liquor license, The Brydon was possibly the most dependable place to find any one of the foreign contractors that lived and worked in the city. Considering that Jason was looking for a man known to be a functional alcoholic, it didn't take a detective to guess that The Brydon would be the best place to start hunting for him.

The subject of Jason's search was a British contractor named Martin Lansley, a man whom most would describe as affable and well- spoken. Yet, despite his excellent reputation as a companion for a night on the town, Jason was not here this evening for the pleasure of Martin's company. That was because Jason had a different description for Martin Lansley: prime suspect in a double-murder investigation.

The bar was nearing full capacity at this hour and no one paid any attention to Jason as he continued to stand just inside the entrance. In fact, The Brydon was one of the few places within this city in which a Westerner didn't attract immediate attention. Afghans were barred by state law from being served alcohol and The Brydon was thus exclusively patronized by foreigners. Tight security in the form of armed guards stood outside to keep any locals from entering and putting the valuable liquor license at risk.

The oddity of being in a bar that existed purely for the benefit of foreigners aside, Jason had to admit that this was the most relaxed he had felt since leaving the United States three months ago. Jason was on a one-year rotation through Afghanistan, responsible for investigating major crimes for Army CID in the Afghan Area of Operations. Jason's experience with Afghanistan had to this point been an endless cross-country journey, highlighted by obscure Forward Operating Bases, hot nights in field tents and unforgiving cold showers. And while his current investigation into the murder of two American soldiers was a tragedy for those involved, the Army's excellent facilities in Kabul had at least offered him a small respite. In fact, if it weren't for the growing complexities of this case, he might have even found himself liking Kabul.

After a few moments of searching, he was relieved to see his time tonight would not be wasted. Martin Lansley was seated on a corner stool of the bar, holding a friendly conversation with the bartender and waving an empty glass. Martin Lansley was hard to miss with a classically handsome face and dark, well-groomed hair that was somehow perfectly manicured at all hours of the day.

Approaching from behind, Jason waited for Martin to finish ordering his next drink, then said to the bartender, "Just a beer for me."

Martin looked up with an easy smile. "Special Agent Milner? I thought American police officers were more partial to whiskey than beer."

Jason sat down next to Martin. "Depends on who we're drinking with."

"Oh?" asked Martin Lansley, turning in his stool.

"Have you got a few minutes? I want to ask you about a rumor."

"Lots of rumors in this country. The place is practically propped up on them five deep."

"I promise it's worth your time."

The bartender brought Jason's beer and Martin's drink. Martin was quick to cover the tab for both, then toasted Jason with his outstretched glass. "A good gin and tonic deserves a moment of silence."

Jason waited as Martin stirred the drink methodically. The men had met several weeks prior as part of Jason's investigation into the execution-style murder of two Kentucky National Guard MPs. The Guardsmen's bodies had been found in a secure cargo area at Kabul International Airport, or KAIA as it was known among the American military. Initially it was presumed that the killer was one of the other soldiers assigned to the jointly shared NATO base at KAIA. Yet, after weeks of interviews with base personnel turned up no links to either the murdered men or the duffel bags of money found in their barrack dorm rooms, Jason's suspicions had fallen on the community of contractors who worked within the confines of the base.

Among the pool of contractors with unfettered access to KAIA, Jason had initially dismissed Martin Lansley. On the surface, Martin was just a well-groomed and harmless socialite who – like most of the contractors working on government contracts – was in and out of the airfield on a regular basis. Yet, as Jason dug deeper into the backgrounds of the civilians who worked at KAIA, the more his attention had turned to Martin and his work for a company called FDC.

FDC was making millions helping the government deal with one of the largest obstacles that faced the U.S. military after a near decade of war in Afghanistan: how to repatriate the mountains of surplus, damaged and oversized equipment the military had shipped into the country since 2002. From inoperable HUMVEEs to excess building materials and everything in-between, many of these items could be repurposed if brought back to the United States. Yet, exporting these materials meant dealing with the country's limited infrastructure and a tangled web of civilian powerbrokers whom the military was ill-equipped to handle. The immense costs of paying a private company to deal with these problems on behalf of the military was thus deemed by the Pentagon to be more cost-effective than simply abandoning the materials to the Afghan desert.

Martin Lansley's role in all of this was as a sort of ombudsman for FDC. After several years in his early career spent working for the British Foreign Office, Martin was fluent in both Punjab and Pashto. He married these talents with a seemingly never-ending array of connections to local officials in both countries. Most important to his success, Martin had that rare ability needed to keep material moving in a part of the world where even mundane shipments were known to bog down into never-ending and indecipherable power-struggles.

Martin finished his drink and waved for another. "Now that I'm properly established, tell me about your rumor."

"It's a good one. You remember our conversation a few weeks back?"

"How could I forget? Not very often a British citizen gets to experience a real, live interrogation from an American detective."

"Well, after we talked, I heard a rumor that maybe those two Guardsmen died due to a connection with someone running drugs out of KAIA."

"Do tell?"

"Then I heard another rumor from some contractors there that you're making some money on the side these days."

Martin received another cocktail and worked it once again with a short straw. Jason realized that Martin wasn't going to provide a response, so he asked, "Just a rumor?"

"Everyone here is making a little something on the side. I'm no different."

"Maybe. Maybe not. A few days after I hear this rumor, I get a call from my friends at the DEA back in the U.S. You know who the DEA is, right? They made a drug bust at the Port of Miami a week ago. Two pallets of heroin packed into the back of surplus U.S. Army HUMVEES. Your company, FDC, is listed on the bill of lading. And the whole thing is signed by you, no less. It doesn't take a genius. I've got two dead bodies. Two...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: ROUNDFIRE BOOKS
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1785350846
• ISBN 13: 9781785350849
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 344
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar